Black River Trip, Fall 2011

Thank you, Joel, for providing an outline for my musings. Makes my life a whole lot easier.

To jump to the video, click here.

Thursday, October 13--Drive to Black River Falls and Camp at Castle Mound 

This was the first Thursday departure in the history of our fall canoe trips.  It worked well, even though we arrived after sundown. It's always the same, you want to leave work on time to get an early start but as you are leaving the door, time keeps on slipping. First, I don't think I would have made it home without stopping for gas. Not really time lost except I could have done it on the previous night. Then, The packing of the van always takes more time than anticipated, especially with a double load of canoes. It is getting better though, this is the first time I remembered how to slip the straps around the bars between the canoes. We left town at 17:00 and surprisingly,  traffic was not too much of an issue. The strong westerly wind buffeted our rear end and made the canoes act like sails. It's nice to start a trip chatting with friends some of which you haven't seen in a while. Politics, music, true crime, etc. made time fly by like the wind that was buffeting us from the rear. We reached Black River Falls around 19:30 and then found Castle Mound and its nice campground without further delay--no problem accommodating 3 tents at any site. We did a victory lap through the campground just to make sure that Craig had not arrived yet, he drifted in about 10 minutes after us. We set up our tents by car lights and soon had a nice fire going.  Delicious chili--with chocolate in it!--and good bread to mop up the juices.

Friday, October 14--Shuttle and Departure from Henry Olson Memorial Landing at Irving to Camp near Shallow Lake

I did not bring the promised Highlands Oats for a hearty porridge making everyone feel sad and down, because porridge was what everyone had been banking on. Fortunately I had made a strong coffee that appeased everyone and Craig threw a couple of shovels of granola bars among the raving and raging herd of prospective canoeists. Breaking camp and packing up was quickly done, and we were on our way. Craig, in his wisdom, had suggested to meet the taxi-cabbist in person to lay out our plan. After a quarter century in Wisconsin he knows the natives, he can come across as one himself. I got the cryptic directions to Falls Taxi on Woodlawn and we had a little trouble finding our way to the shuttle service. So we got to see Black River Falls and the dam construction underway. I spotted a sheriff's deputy helping an old lady across the street and hailed him. After some more crypticisms in terms of directions it turned out that I had been almost right the first time around, taking a right where I should have taken a left. I had been misled i part by the fact that this was Brockway, an unincorporated suburb of Black River Falls. From Castle Mound Camp Ground the directions are: go towards Black River Falls, to first major intersection. It's a T, there is a gas station hiding to the right some place. Take a left and proceed to Third Street. Take a left and then a right, continue till you get to Falls Taxi, there is a sign and here we were. Based on my experience (or rather lack thereof) with the native tongue, I decided to let Craig do the talking. He had no trouble conveying our needs and soon we were headed for Olson Memorial Landing.

At $44 the taxi service was very affordable, besides being friendly and prompt. After dropping off the gear, Craig in his and Ben in our car headed for the take-out point behind the Riverview Inn in North Bend. Shortly before they left, I had given word to Falls Taxi and they had dispatched someone right away, as it turned out the dispatcher had dispatched himself and came with a newish looking Chrysler van. Snacks were provided, actually better service than on many airplanes nowadays.

After our drivers returned, we checked Craig's 1:50k topo map, which he transported in a document tube, we all were very impressed--how many canoe teams have their own cartographer along?

The full crew, ready to shove off. Left to right: Craig, David, Joel, Ben,
Christian and Mellie

No turning back, now! (Photo by Craig)

We shoved off as soon as we were able to catch Mellie who would have preferred to keep fetching sticks from the water. Most of us started the trip in neoprene wading shoes or water sandals and especially Joel was grateful to have water shoes for the sometimes mucky river edges; he thought that bare feet throughout the trip would have been a little chilly. I switched from wading boots to bare feet to Tevas. The soft sand along most of our trip allowed most options and even the water temp seemed not too bad yet. We took a nice little picnic lunch on a sandbar and a great little sidetrip to see some waterfalls.

Visiting falls on Roaring Creek at (1) on the map, above.

Occasionally, a fresh breeze would blow into our faces and we had to paddle harder, especially Craig, our soloist. I am really enjoying paddling with Joel as my bowman on whose predictable stroke I can count. We developed a good rhythm and the wind hardly bothered us.

Looks like a good spot for camp!

We picked a sandbank to camp on by 15:00, just 500m past Shallow Lake and then mosied through the afternoon. I noticed dried out plants bearing seedpods with vicious burs. Mellie collected a couple between her toes which I helped her to remove. Since I had not seen this type of plant before, I meant to take one of the seedpods home, which I promptly forgot. When I finished the trip, I ended up finding one stuck on Mellie's leash. I could not find it with an online search but it took me only three minutes to locate it in Peterson's Field Guide to Wildflowers Northeastern/North Central North America: it was a cocklebur, Xanthium strumarium.

Still life with cockleburs, they are the plants center and top center of the photo

The seedpod looks downright scary, glad they don't have legs and that I didn't
meet one this size in the dark. In fact, they are only around 20 mm long.

Towards evening, the wind settled and Craig began preparing a terrific Beef Stroganoff in the Dutch oven for dinner. When he was done cooking we replaced his pit of hot coals with a lively little camp fire and enjoyed the meal, a couple of beers and wine and of course many good stories.

Listening for ghostly noises of the night.

As we were sitting in the dark, discussing the constellations that slowly brightened in the sky, ahead of the rising moon that would dim them again, we heard mysterious splashing steps in the water just across the river. Wisconsin Death Trip still freshly on our minds made us wonder. Was it a beaver, possibly with a cleaver?  Or merely a deer with a beer? We did not want to imagine that it might be some unimaginable horror springing another Wisconsin Death Trap.  Soon afterwards, a shrill catlike cry  did nothing to settle our imagination. One of us first wondered if it might be a cougar or a bobcat but the entire coyote population of Jackson County seemed to break out in howls--probably one of theirs. I also notice that when I looked into the woods with my binoculars in the direction where the moon would appear there were lights, doubtlessly reflections in Shallow Lake?

Saturday, October 15--Near Shallow Lake to State Game Refuge

We slept well during the night though some of us were startled by sudden wind bursts that almost sounded like someone was demanding access to our tents by rattling at the rain fly. During the pre-dawn hours, coyote and owl cries (was one a drunken owl?) kept the early risers entertained. Like during the previous day we had calm winds at breakfast, which consisted of a mega-stack of Joel's blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup and the obligatory bacon blend. All but one pancake were eaten by the hungry paddlers, the remaining one was donated to the intrepid guard dog of the expedition.  Some fly catcher, delayed on his trip south sang his little melody and once we started, many eagles and a couple of kingfishers. Beautiful sandstone bluffs along the river--we debated the height of the highest. We estimated it at about 60-70 feet, unfortunately with a big house on top. I checked the height later and found the top of the hill to be 120 feet with the actual bluff portion being at least 80 feet.

Exhausted from paddling into the wind or from eating too many flapjacks for
breakfast?

Shortly past the big bluff we went under the only bridge of this trip, Hwy 71/108 just south of Melrose. We stopped on an island to wait for Craig and from there we hit our toughest winds, churning up waves and whitecaps as we passed alongside about a 50+ foot sand embankment south east of where Hwy 54 climbs out of the Black River valley.  We had a hard time deciding where to stay for the evening and also a few debates as to our exact location. While working on the blog I compared topo quads some of which are dating back to the 1960s with more up-to-date satellite imagery. I was amazed to see that many of what looked like wide channels were now completely overgrown and barely visible from the river.

Comparing 1969 USGS topo to 2011 satellite imagery shows how the riverscape
changes. We camped on the sandbar close to the center of the satellite image.
There is no sandbar marked on the map. The channels east and west of our sand-
bar are well defined on the map and barely visible from the river. especially the
channel east is completely overgrown.

We went further than we'd planned in hopes of finding a better, more secluded sandbar. We stopped a couple of times, rejecting one with some potential due to the trailer park vistas it offered.

Camp is a beach ...

We eventually found a gigantic one--about 200 yards long and the width of a football field--sheltered from the river by a little elevated strip of greenery. I later found that on Google Maps, the satellite image shows it as an island. Still lots of wind, whipping sand everywhere and even rolling my canoe, which after a couple of flips was fortunately caught by its cousin, the Bell Woodwind.

... and so is life!

Joel was rather captivated by his current bodice ripper (great picture by Craig)

After a lazy evening of dozing, taking pictures and reading I began building a fire for the NY strip steaks, Texas toast, and Joel's martinis. What a feast! During dinner Mellie's hair stood on end and she stared upstream, letting off a deep growl. She walked a few steps into the darkness and sat down, keeping watch, only to return when she was convinced that no danger threatened from that direction.  We went to bed around 21:00 and as soon as we were in, it began raining gently. The rain soon stopped, it was to be the only precipitation of the trip.

Sunday, October 16--State Game Refuge to North Bend

Many types of owls heard overnight, more coyotes, too.  Lots of gunshots in the AM. Ben, with Craig's assistance concocted the Mountain Man Breakfast which was for mountain man and not for a bunch of wayward city slickers still digesting the steak from the previous night.

Once more we missed peak fall foliage. Maybe one weekend
earlier next year?

Living well: not sure how many liters of Dunn Bros. Kenyan/
FR Java went through the French press. 

We did the best we could to honor Ben's efforts. Still, there were quite a few leftovers. It was excellent, just a little too much. We cleaned and packed in a jiffy and left the lovely spot to brave the hunters' blazing guns. I still had a sense that this last leg would not take that much time.

During our paddle today we had our closest encounter with an eagle: it was a huge juvenile sitting in a tree just above us. About a mile of challenging paddling into the wind until we reached the north bend in the Black River, leaving us with all but 200m to North Bend. We finished by 11:30, only to find a dead car battery in the van. My neighbor Mike had warned me when he did the last checkup at Doran-King: almost time for a new one. I wnet to the nearest bar and could get one of the Packers fans to lend me his starter cables. The van started immediately. Part of it was doubtlessly using the headlights to build camp on Thursday night.

We had strong winds driving home, first from the side while taking the scenic route on W Hwy 54 and N Hwy 53 and then from the front, on I-94. The Cardinals beat Brewers that night and head to the World Series.

Overall

35 km total clocked on the Garmin Forerunner 305. The story of this year's canoe trip was WIND, WIND, and SAND.  The former was not always in our faces, but often enough while the latter found its way pretty much everywhere, including our food and our underwear.  Also, for the 3rd year in a row, we saw no people (aside from a few passing cars) from the time we hit the water until the time we ended on Sunday. Another great trip!

Trip Video

One more week to go!

It looks like we can confirm for Joel that all the pieces are falling into place for next week. Like last year, he's going to bring a tent big enough for three so nobody has to sleep with a dog or a snorer in the other tents. He'll also bring the tripod grill, for whoever needs it. If anyone needs a dry bag, Peggy just bought one on sale cheap-- he can bring it if anyone needs it. David has reserved a canoe from the U of M outdoor adventure people and will haul it to my house. The young lady who took the reservation is from Black River Falls and said we have chosen a wonderful location for our fall adventure. She must not have been around in the late 19th Century as Joel points out farther down.

I will drive. Unless consensus dictates to start earlier we'll meet at our house between 4:00 and 5:00 on Thursday and to leave as soon as the van is packed. We are four, so nobody has to take the emergency seat, which is not in the car anyway since Colin contaminated our van with rotten fish guts shortly after our trip last year. I took out the rear seat bench and cut out the carpeting, the odor is neutralized, mostly.

I'll have the Coleman 2-burner stove, a french press, a tent for the dog, its owner and any additional person who may be brave enough to bed down with both. I will also bring a tarp to sit under in case of rain. I do have a couple of sturdy dry bags, too, if anyone is interested. If you are missing any type of gear, please ask, I may have it and I am happy to let you use it. By the way, I started packing yesterday evening and I am getting giddy with excitement kind of like my dog when she sees me about to throw a ball.

It's been so dry in MN--Joel, and the rest of us are all hoping there aren't any fire bans in the areas we'll be in. The long-range forecast looks like we might have to tolerate some highs in the upper 50s for late next week in Black River Falls--we can handle it! And some rain has been announced, too, so fire ban may not be something we need to worry about either. And it looks like a full moon ...

For local flavor Joel dug up his copy of Michael Lesy's book Wisconsin Death Trip (1973), which used photographs and newspaper cuttings to highlight the harshness of life in Black River Falls of during the late nineteenth century and the effects it had on the psychology of the inhabitants. It was later made into a movie, no, not Deliverance. It furthermore served as the inspiration for some thrash metal album of the same name. Maybe I'll use this as the score for the film and slide show that will doubtlessly follow our trip ...  We'll hope for slightly less harsh conditions--Joel swears to have heard that next weekend is the local technical college's annual Nude Swimathon in the river.

Black River Planning 2

We will leave the city after work on Thursday, October 13 and meet Craig  at Castle Mound Campground where we will spend the night. The trip from St. Paul to Black River Falls is about 140 miles or 2:30 hrs.

Shuttle

• I checked out Falls Taxi (715-284-4511) for the shuttle of the two drivers. They charge $1.75/mile. If they charge us the full fare from Black River Falls and back (about 50 miles), it would be $87.50, rounding it up to $100 for a tip, or about $20 each. Seems in line.
• I tried to call the Riverview Inn in North Bend (608-488-5191, http://www.riverviewinn.biz/), they do not open before 5:00 PM Tuesday through Sunday. I will try after 5:00 PM sometime this week.

Canoes

Ben and David will make reservations at the U of MN Rec Center for a canoe package if they can't borrow one form a friend or neighbor. For the 16'6" Royalex Bell Northwind (almost identical to my Galyan's Woodsman III) it's $35 for the first three days and then $15 for additional days which is hard to beat.

Meals

• Thursday Dinner: David's Delicious Hotdish
• Fri Breakfast: potluck continental?
• Fri Dinner: Craig's Kettle Surprise
• Sat Breakfast: Joel's Jummy Blueberry Pancakes with this year's sponsorship bacon
• Sat Dinner: Christian's Crispy Steak Sandwiches
• Sun Breakfast: Ben's Bagel Smörgåsbord

Oh, heavy rain in Black River Falls over the past couple of days, an inch or more. The fact that during the three-week dry spell the water seemed pretty stable between 300 and 400 cfs makes me think that we are safe from low water, as the minimum flow recommended for canoeing at Wisconsin Paddle Guide is 200 cfs.  According to USGS, it is between 800 and 900 cfs right now, September 27, 2011.

For further information on the Black River see also in Svob's Paddling Southern Wisconsin Black River 5 and 6 for some additional recommendations and a good trip description for the segment we are planning to do. This book is out of print but the link goes to Google Books where one can peruse. By the way both of Svob's books on paddling Wisconsin can be found on the used book market for about double they sold new. Time for a new edition?


View Black River Planning in a larger map

Fall Canoeing: Black River, Wisconsin

Oct 13 (evening) to 16, preferred or Oct 6 to 9, alternate

River narrative linked at Wisconsin Paddle Guide--Black River.

One idea was to meet Thursday night 10/13 at a campground near Black River Falls (TBA), meet shuttlemeisters Fri. am, and be on the water by noonish. If no discussion here, we will camp Thursday. Thurs. camp options: Lost Falls Camp closes Sept. 30. I'm exploring Castle Mound State Campground, it's maybe 10 miles northeast of our proposed put in. Open year round. Camping fees listed at Wisconsin DNR site. Any other ideas?

Proposed stretch: Irving Landing to North Bend Canoe Landing (21 miles) or to DNR Boat Landing (22 miles). I'm weighing access pros and cons. I canoed this stretch 2years ago. David H. and I reviewed it this summer and it's very tame. Lotsa big sand bars for camping. Water levels: One site recommends a flow between 200 and 300 CFS. Today it's at 620. Kinda surprised it is that low. If it gets below 200 we should default to Namekagon or another river. Gauge site is located at USGS site, here.

Meals: I can make a Dutch Oven beef stroganoff or a Mountain breakfast.
Partners- I will solo if we end up with an odd number.
Shuttle?
Group Equipment? I have a tarp, shovel, Dutch Oven other if needed.
Water proof bags. I may have one extra.

2011 Summer Trip Planning

This year I recruited James' friend Joe and his dad Bryan to join us on our early summer outing. Based on an article in Backpacker Magazine I considered the Thunder Bay, ON area. One of the problems with looking at Canada is the passport requirement, thus the Ontario option slipped. Of course, there are always the BWCA, and I also suggested Voyageur's NP and the Vermilion River.

Bryan made an intriguing suggestion with proposing to look at South Dakota water. Until now I would have visualized semi-arid badlands when thinking about the Dakotas. As I would find out, they do hold plenty of rivers, though water tends to be an issue as the season progresses.

Bryan suggested the Cheyenne in W South Dakota. I got sidetracked by the Sheyenne further east and also remembered the Little Missouri River in Theodore Roosevelt NP. A quick call to the ranger station of T. Roosevelt set me straight on that one: little chance to have enough water, even as early as July 4. The Sheyenne seemed pretty enough but lacked remoteness and its course through relatively densely populated farmland suggested lack of sites for overnight camping.

I even considered some rivers in E Montana but here the driving would just be too far. Finally, Bryan pointed me back at the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche. Mark McClain's Canoecamping.org site has a good summary of the Belle Fourche/Cheyenne system. I also found Dawne Olson's More Creeks and Meadows blog very helpful. Dawne was nice enough to send additional information by e-mail. Another good trip description came from Jarett and Laura's Kayak Sodak Blog.

Both blogs indicate some of the adversity to be encountered when paddling rivers in W South Dakota: low water levels, heat and biting insects. Water permitting, the 110 miles between Elm Springs and and Hwy 63 look feasible. They both used the services of Caleb Gilkerson's Steamboat's Inc.

Driving times are as follows:
St. Paul to Elm Springs: 9 hrs 45'
St. Paul to Pierre (if we need to meet outfitter there) 7 hrs 15'
Pierre to Elm Springs: 3 hrs

View Belle Fourche-Cheyenne Trip in a larger map

Creeping Charlie--Bane of the American Lawn

The other morning I returned from an early morning jog and for a cool-down, I walked around our block. One neighbor had a beautiful crop of creeping charlie that reached to mid-calf in places. The soft early-morning light, just past dawn mad it look so beautiful that I had to go grab my camera for a photo.

I have to make a confession: I love Glechoma hederacea, more commonly know as creeping charlie or ground ivy. I love how it grows in thick carpets where grasses are hard to grow, I love the leaves that blush when exposed to the sun and I love the flowers.

What I do not understand is why Americans hate it. I can understand that it is an invasive species and that it may therefore displace native flora. It appears that it is toxic to horses and some livestock and should be controlled near pastures. But those who hate it most do not seem in need to worry about either native flora or livestock. I doubt that the grasses they are trying to protect from ground ivy invasion would survive without careful tending, even in the absence of G. hederacea. And livestock, well, besides a few well fed police horses I haven't seen much.

When doing an internet search for 'creeping charlie' the first 10 hits include the terms control, kill, eradicate and others. Even Wikipedia includes a longish paragraph on G. hederacea control. Interestingly, the German Wikipedia page on Gundermann includes a page on its medicinal and culinary uses and has suggestions on which hybrids to grow a, you guessed it, ground cover. Both the German and French (lierre terrestre=ground ivy) Wikis praise its use in brewing before the use of hops and in the kitchen, to add some spice to salads. Leave it to the French to take it a step further, in France they use the pretty leaves to decorate cakes.

Corporate Voles

A couple of decades ago, West Publishing (then Thomson West and now Thomson Reuters) made the move to the burbs, trading urban bluff dwellings for a monolith surrounded by square miles of blacktop on the open prairie. The reasons included space, cheap space, and more space (I am sure there were other reasons, too, but I am sticking to the obvious).

I started working there a little more than one decade ago, and the daily trip from the parking lot to the building is somewhat of an adventure. In the summer, the blacktop traps the heat and it feels like the hike back to the car is through Dead Valley. I swear I have seen a Fata Morgana or two over the years, lush oases mirrored in the pools of boiling air. In the winter, if you shun the shuttles to company so kindly provides, one can entertain oneself with juvenile games like spitting on the ground to see whether your expectoration will bounce off the ground with a clink because it gets there flash-frozen.

There are some hiking trails and colleagues claim to have seen coyotes while taking a stroll during lunch break. I believe them because I have seen  evidence in the form of paw prints and scat. After a rain storm one can see deer tracks in some muddy puddle along the trail. Wild turkey are a common sighting, too.

I come in early enough to park near to the building and I therefore do not have too much of a hike between car, building and back. Not too much opportunity for wildlife spotting, one would think, but there is plenty.

I mentioned the savage winters. Because quite a few of us early birds do shun the shuttle and because the company fears liability, it installed a heated sidewalk along the roundabout, protecting us from slippery mishaps. One interesting phenomenon can be observed because while everywhere outside frost gets a grip on the land in late November, it does not have a chance under the heated sidewalk. The outcome is that where the footings are not below frost level, adjacent structures, mostly abutting sidewalks, are raised by up to a couple of inches, which makes the heated walkway seem sunk in.

Sunk by the heat or lifted by frost? The voles don't care, they like the heat!

The other observation I made is the surprising level of critter activity along the edge of the flower beds next to the heated sidewalk. By the time the snow melts, a well established vole colony is in evidence. Think of it, they have condos with central heat on one side and a larder well furnished with delicious and nutritious day lily rhizomes on the other.

Voles have no respect for proper decorum or corporate plantings. 

Not sure if the pest control guys can do much to keep these rodents in check where conditions are so favorable. I secretly hope they can't because I find the vole colony highly entertaining. But if West is serious about ridding itself of voles, it should consider building an in-ground pool in the vicinity. Voles love the water, but they do seem to forget that they are not very strong swimmers ...

Mellie's Feet

Mellie is our second dog, Barley was the first one. Somewhere I had picked up that a dog's paws smell like a freshly cut grass. I took a good whiff of one of Barley's paws and I had to agree, it smelled just like a mowed lawn.

Barley was a dog of no particular smell, unless she rolled in something disgusting or unless she was wet. Did you know that kid's wet hair smells just like dog's wet fur? Try it. The smell of a dog is just a little more intense, but go figure, while we humans typically have about 200-300 cm2, dogs have more or less 2500, or about 8 to 12 times as many. No wonder a wet dog smells stronger than a wet kid.

I thought that Barley's light aroma was mostly due to the fact that she was a female. I was shocked when I noticed that Mellie, also a bitch, had a rather strong odor. So much for my theory. I investigated and found that the smell had a rather unexpected source: Mellie has smelly feet. Instead of the sweet smell of fresh-cut grass, her feet emmanate the odors of poorly rotted grass clippings in a compost pile. I was just glad that the stink was restricted to such a narrow area.

I ended up doing some more research about this topic. It appears that a dog's paws, just like his ears and anal area are studded with scent glands. Wikipedia has an entry on Dog Odor that provides a little mor detail than I do.